July 14/02 11:56 am - Tour de Delta: Team Saturn Report

Posted by Editoress on 07/14/02

Tour de DeltaCourtesy Saturn

Mark McCormack and Manon Jutras win final stage at Tour de Delta Saturn's Wohlberg and Davidge take overall titles

The first stage of the three day Tour de Delta race in the Vancouver area kicked off with an uphill prologue. Held on a 500 meter steep uphill climb with a sharp left hand turn and an additional 200 meter flat sprint to the finish, the course quickly brought the power riders to the forefront.

The second stage was a flat four corner evening criterium in Ladner, BC. The Saturn Team began the day with the Mator's Rally fun ride before moving onto to dominating both the men's and the women's criterium. There was a large crown of about 4,000 lining the streets to watch the excitement -- and the riders put on quite a show.

In the women's 36 kilometer race, Saturn's Kim Davidge entered the race in third place overall, and the two Saturn women took turns attacking and counter attacking the field, exchanging solo breaks four times throughout the race. With six laps to go, Davidge launched a final attack which was brought back by the field with four laps to go. As soon as Davidge was caught, Davidge's Saturn teammate Kristy Scrymgeour made a final attack on the backside of the course and stayed away for the remaining distance to win solo, with Davidge winning the field sprint.

The men's 54 kilometer race was just as animated, with Saturn's Eric Wohlberg off on a solo break early. After he was brought back, it was Saturn's Jay Sweet turn on the attack which was covered by Scott Zwizanski (Northwest Cycle) and Jonathon Wirsing (Snow Valley). This break stayed away for most of the race and looked as if it was the winning break, but with a lot of effort from the peloton it was finally brought back with 12 laps to go. At that point Saturn's Mark McCormack attacked and stayed away from a chasing field until he was caught with six laps to go. Wohlberg struck again with a counter-attack powering away for the solo win. Saturn's Ivan Dominguez won the field sprint with Sweet, Frank McCormack and Mark McCormack finishing 2-3-4-5 in the field sprint respectively.

The Saturn Men on the Podium after Stage Two

The final stage for the Tour de Delta for the men started in the town of Delta and rode to the town of Tsawassen where they then completed 11 laps of an 8 kilometer circuit for a total of 130 kilometers. The women did only 11 laps of the circuit for a total of 88 kilometers.

In the men's race, the field was together when they entered the circuits, which included a 700 meter climb. The second time up the hill, Roland Green attacked and stayed away until a chase group containing the five Saturn men, Joe Giuliano, Corey Lange, and Scott Zwizanski (Snow Valley) were able to come to terms with Green, catching him with six laps to go. The gap to the field at that point was three minutes and it looked to be another strong finish for the entire Saturn team, who held the top five placings in the overall standings. However, Lange had a different idea, and attacked the small group, staying away until two laps to go. The last time up the hill, Green put in one last attack, which was covered by race leader Eric Wohlberg, Ivan Dominguez and Mark McCormack. Coming into the last two kilometers, McCormack attacked, followed by Dominguez, leaving Green alone with Wohlberg. Just before the finish, the last three men from the break, including Frank McCormack, caught back on to Wohlberg and Green which eventually led to Saturn taking the top four spots in the final stage, with McCormack taking the win.

In the women's race, Manon Jutras (Rona) attacked early in the race. She was not a threat to the overall, thus the top contenders in the overall classification were content to let her ride away with the stage win. Saturn's Kim Davidge remained in the overall lead by finishing second in the stage.